


the dainty and the dramatic

by Lyss2011



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Adorable Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Adorable Merlin, Attempt at Humor, Canon Era, Cute, Fluff, M/M, POV Arthur, POV Merlin, Pining Arthur, Pining Merlin (Merlin), Sneezing, eye rolling, so is gaius, uther is DONE with their shit, why is there no adorable merlin tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-02 22:51:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16796263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyss2011/pseuds/Lyss2011
Summary: “Ye—ah-choo,” Arthur said, voice muffled by his tunic.“Merlin?”“Merlin?”“Merlin!”Merlin blinked. "Sorry."written for theprompt: "every time person A sneezes, person B goes asdkjgdsjkhdfg in their mind and does the contextual equivalent of walking into a wall because person A's sneezes are SO FUCKING ADORABLE THAT PERSON B JUST CAN'T."'





	the dainty and the dramatic

~1~

“Up and at ‘em!” Merlin threw open the curtains and turned around to ensure Arthur woke up. 

Of course, it was never that easy. Arthur had burrowed down under the covers, and was mumbling something Merlin couldn’t hear. So he valiantly pulled off the covers and asked, “What was that? I couldn’t hear you!”

“I said,” Arthur snuffled. “Cad you get de sub of Gaius’ ticdures? I hab a cold.”

Merlin’s cheery expression faded to one of concern as he checked Arthur over, feeling him for a fever and listening to his lungs. 

“Get off de!” Arthur exclaimed, pushing Merlin’s head off his chest. 

“It’s just some congestion!” Merlin said brightly, the tips of his ears burning. “Your breakfast is set out for you, eat up!”

-

“Gaius! I need something for Arthur, he’s all stuffed up today, and he’s supposed to be presiding over the,” he waved his hand vaguely, “that thing that’s happening today.” 

“One would think _you_ were the one whose head was stuffed up,” Gaius said disapprovingly. “Some of the new lords whose land Camelot acquired in the treaty are coming to swear fealty. Uther and Arthur need to make a good impression so the new lords don’t cause too much trouble. Didn’t we just go over that this morning?”

“Yeah, but— Anyway, bye!” Merlin wasn’t about to admit to his mentor that he’d forgotten pretty much everything as soon as he tried to listen to Arthur’s lungs. Arthur’s chest had been sleep-warm and his chest hair had tickled Merlin’s ears, and really, who was supposed to remember something as unimportant as a state visit at a moment like that?

-

“Right, here you are! Drink up!” Merlin shoved the vial in Arthur’s hand and turned around to find the outfit Arthur was supposed to wear today. “Remember you’ve got that fealty thingy today.” He took the empty vial out of Arthur’s hand and started pulling the tunic over his head. 

“Ye—ah- _choo_ ,” Arthur said, voice muffled by his tunic. 

“Merlin?”

“Merlin?”

“ _Mer_ lin!” 

Merlin blinked and grabbed at a flailing Arthur so he could pull his tunic down the rest of the way and free Arthur’s head and hands. “Sorry.”

Arthur stared at him. “And you say _I_ am too stupid to dress myself.”

“Well…”

Arthur cuffed him on the head.

~2~

The fealty seemed to be going well, as far as Merlin could tell. Two new lords were standing respectfully as Uther made a speech about a ‘new and improved’ Camelot. Merlin was standing to the side of the room with another servant, each of them holding a gift for the new nobles. The heavy chest he was holding was for Lord Hazen, probably full of gold and jewelry, and _not_ supposed to be his responsibility. Some other royal servant had bailed and Uther practically pulled him from his position next to Arthur and told him to just imitate what the other servant did.

Finally Uther gestured to them to step forward, and Merlin had to stop himself from running in order to get rid of the chest as early as possible, instead following sedately behind the other servant. 

“Please accept these gifts,” Uther was saying, “as a gesture—”

“ _Zch_ -choo.”

“—of our goodwill. We—”

“ _Zch_ -choo.”

“—hope you enjoy—”

“ _ZCH_ -choo.”

“—the treasures we’ve chosen for you.”

Now, it must be said that Merlin had heard and seen many sneezes in his life. Ealdor had seen its fair share of sickness and now as Gaius’ apprentice and ward, he’d witnessed sneezes from knights, visiting nobles, elders from the lower town, and even small children. Merlin had never heard cuter tiny sneezes in his life, so he turned to see who had sneezed. 

It was Arthur of course, sitting on his throne next to his father. He was gripping his knees with white knuckles and sitting up as straight as ever, as if he hadn’t just emitted the most adorable sounds ever to be heard in the throne room. His eyes were wet but damn if that didn’t make him look even more beautiful. Merlin could just imagine how the prince’s lashes would darken with the moisture, framing his eyes even more perfectly than normal. How did he manage to look so handsome even when ill?

“What is the meaning of this?” Lord Hazen demanded from his right.

Merlin tore his gaze away from Arthur to look at the lord, who was glaring at him. He opened his mouth but no excuses came out.

“Apologies Sire, my Lord. His mother almost died from a cold such as this,” Gaius was saying to Uther from his customary corner of the room. Then he turned to Merlin and said in a slow, loud voice, “Prince Arthur will be _fine_ , Merlin. There’s absolutely nothing to worry about, just give the chest to the Lord Hazen. I will check on Prince Arthur myself later.”

From the corner of his eye he saw Uther rub his second finger and thumb over his brow in irritation, but Merlin thought that this was rather the king’s fault for making him do this in the first place. 

~3~

As expected, Gaius’ visit to check on Arthur’s health was more of an opportunity to yell at Merlin in private about his atrocious and uncourtly behavior, although he did ask Arthur how he was feeling.

“Much better, thank you Gaius,” Arthur dismissed. “What _are_ you doing, Merlin?”

“Starting your laundry,” Merlin said, confused. Behind Arthur, Gaius rolled his eyes and left.

“We’re taking the lords for a tour of the ramparts so they can get some fresh air before the council session.” 

“But I don’t know anything about the ramparts!” he protested.

Arthur rolled his eyes. “Of course not. You’re to open the doors for us and ensure the lords are happy.”

“But you’re sick!”

“As I told Gaius, I’m much better now. I probably won’t even so much as sneeze again now that the effects of the tincture have set in.”

“Whatever you say, _my lord_.”

-

Merlin prided himself on his restraint in not turning around to look when Arthur inevitably sneezed his adorable little _zch_ -choo’s up on the ramparts. 

He would never have thought that such a dainty sneeze belonged to the strapping crowned prat he served every day. It was soft enough and gentle enough that he could have confused it with a woman’s sneeze if he didn’t know better. In fact, if he hadn’t just seen Morgana below them in the town a minute ago, he would have thought she’d come up to join them in this pointless walkabout- _ohshit_.

“Merlin,” Arthur called out, coming up behind him and slapping a friendly hand on the back of his neck. “You’re supposed to _open_ the door for us, not walk into it! What is with you today? You’re normally clumsy but a _door_? A whole, solid wooden door?” He gestured to the thing as if Merlin hadn’t seen it—which, to be fair, he hadn’t before it hit him in the face.

“How do you deal with such an incompetent servant, sire?” the lord who wasn’t Lord Hazen asked before Merlin could respond. “In Mercia we would have dismissed him for this kind of shoddy service.”

Arthur’s hand gripped Merlin’s neck tighter. “Well here in Camelot we are kind to everyone, even the stupid and incompetent. In any case, we should be heading back now, it wouldn’t do for the guests of honor to be late now, would it?”

~4~

“—in the outlying villa- _ahh-ah_ -” Leon made a face as he clearly tried to avoid sneezing during his report to the council. “Villages. Ex-ah _CHOO_ -ze me, excuse me.” 

The room was very silent following Leon’s report, and Merlin realized they were all staring at him with trepidation. Well, all except Gaius. Gaius was giving him a Significant Look which Merlin interpreted as ‘something crazy’s happening, _do_ something!’ but when he turned around, wine jug raised in defense, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. 

When he turned back, Uther looked like he was resigning himself to a day of petitions full of petty arguments about the ownership of a goat or some such nonsense, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Anything else, Sir Leon?” he asked, sounding as if he desperately wished there weren’t. For once, Merlin agreed with the king.

“No, Sire. That concludes my report.” 

“Very well. Lord Hazen?”

Lord Hazen launched into a long diatribe on traditions he had on his land, and how he wished to introduce them to Camelot. Merlin had started to tune it out when he heard Hazen say, “treat our servants as servants and not prized pets to be guided and doted up—”

“Ah-ahhh——ah-choo.”

Merlin turned to look at Arthur, who had just sneezed the strangest, fakest sounding sneeze he’d ever heard, and whose nose was now twitching adorably to stave off further sneezes. 

“…doted upon,” Hazen finished. 

“ _Zch_ -choo, _zch_ -choo. _ZCH_ -choo.”

This was the first time Merlin had been watching Arthur when he sneezed, and it was so _Arthur_ it hurt. He tucked his face into his shoulder in an attempt to muffle what were already the quietest sneezes ever, and then straightened up before realizing another sneeze was coming and ducking his head into his shoulder again. After his last sneeze, he shook his head slightly as if to clear it, and caught Merlin's eye.

Merlin didn’t even realize the jug had slipped from his grasp until he heard a crash and shouting and felt cool liquid splash up his legs and soak into his shoes.

~5~

“I will be taking dinner in my rooms tonight, Merlin,” Arthur told him shortly after the disastrous end of the council meeting.

“Yes, sire.” Merlin knew Arthur hadn’t been feeling well, but to not attend that night’s feast seemed pretty extreme. 

“My father recommended it,” Arthur responded, probably knowing Merlin would ask sooner or later. “Because of how ill I am.”

“But—but you don’t even have a fever! It’s just sneezing!” Merlin blushed at the thought of Arthur’s sneezes.

“Indeed, just the sneezing.” There was a strange look on Arthur’s face as he said that, but Merlin figured the talk of sneezing made him have to sneeze more. Like yawning. 

Merlin yawned. 

“Tired already, _Mer_ lin?”

“Of course not. Let me go get your dinner from the kitchens.”

-

Everything was going well until Merlin began setting Arthur’s dinner in front of him. He was pouring the wine into Arthur’s goblet when—

“ _ZCH_ -choo. _Zch_ -choo, _zch_ -choo.”

He stared at Arthur, still amazed by this gorgeous human being. Arthur looked up and blinked at Merlin, smiling slightly.

Suddenly Arthur’s eyes went wide and he looked down. Merlin had the time to furrow his eyebrows before Arthur was jumping up and lunging towards him, grabbing his hand. It was a pleasant surprise that Arthur was grasping his hand instead of slapping him on the shoulder or back of the head.

Except this wasn’t any kind of nice, romantic hand-holding Merlin had ever seen, Arthur was tilting his hand upward and – _oh_.

There was wine _everywhere_ : the goblet was overflowing and wine had spilled off the edge of the table and into Arthur’s lap, staining his clothes and er, _accentuating_ Arthur's muscular thighs and—

“Merlin…” Arthur sighed, his thumb shifting slightly across the back of Merlin's hand, which he was _still grasping oh gods_. “You know you’re going to have to clean all this up, right?”

~1~

Arthur was finally better. Or at least he hadn’t sneezed in over two days, which was basically the same thing. The downside was that he had to attend the council meetings again. He’d enjoyed having time off with Merlin scurrying around taking care of his every -well, not _every_ \- need.

The council meeting seemed especially boring this afternoon. He attempted to pay attention since he knew he was scheduled to give a report on changes to the guard schedules, but he’d absorbed little of the information given. Finally Gaius finished speaking, and he was next. 

Arthur stood. “As you know, the guard schedule during the state visit last week was out of the or—”

“ _AHH_ —CHOOO!”

Arthur looked up from his notes to see Merlin standing opposite him across the table, in a dramatic pose. He was frozen with one leg in the air as if he was in the middle of going up an invisible step, his hands cupped near his mouth – which was hanging open – and his dark hair covering one wide-open eye. 

Merlin squeezed his eyes tight, doubling forward so that both his feet touched the ground. 

“ _AHH—CHOOO!_ ” 

His hands moved to cup his mouth, presumably to prevent his spit from flying everywhere, but in reality making his sneeze even louder. Arthur rolled his eyes fondly. Only Merlin. 

Merlin had assumed the same frozen position after this second sneeze, with the addition that his nose was scrunched up ~~adorably~~. Tears brought to his eyes by the violent sneezes made his eyes look much bluer than normal. He looked ~~beautiful~~ ridiculous.

“Council dismissed,” he heard his father say. That was funny, he thought he was supposed to report on the guard sche—

“ _AHH—CHOOOOOOO0ooo!_ ”

Merlin finally released his third and longest sneeze, stamped his foot down, and then grinned sheepishly at Arthur when he caught him watching. 

“Arthur,” his father said, preventing him from leaving with everyone else. He looked exhausted, and Arthur worried for a moment that he was coming down with the same head cold Merlin was. “You are not to attend any more meetings until your manservant feels better.”

“Why?" Uther looked up at the ceiling in something suspiciously close to an eye roll were it not for the fact that _kings simply don't roll their eyes, Arthur. It's below you to do so every time your manservant does something untoward. "I’m_ feeling better, so—”

“ _AHH—CHOOOOO!_ ” 

After being Arthur took a breath to start again, and realized the council chambers were empty except for a snuffling Merlin. He shrugged. At least he could spend more time with Merlin now.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully this was cute enough!
> 
> Also, there is an alternate cracky ending to this on the kink meme, if you're interested. 
> 
> Comments, kudos, and criticism welcome! <3


End file.
